Thank you Paul. It seems though that external list behave a little bit differently in SPD than regular SP lists do. I could not get it to do inline editing, or create a group footer in the sorting a nd grouping box. Is there a way to keep a regular SP list and a SQL table in sync instead. Thanks again.
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AnonymousOct 28 '10 at 3:49

Couple of other options for a one-time load might be through integration with Excel / Access. First get the data into the office application from your SQL backend and then use Excel or Access to create the list within SharePoint.

There are some third party solutions available on CodePlex that will handle the sync. I believe SLAM will do what you're talking about: http://slam.codeplex.com/